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Barrera-Palamin v. State6/26/2001
After a bench trial, Bernabe Barrera-Palamin was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, OCGA § 16-5-2 (a). Barrera appeals, challenging the denial of his motion to suppress and the sufficiency of the evidence. Finding no error, we affirm.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the record shows that on the evening of July 21, 1999, Barrera argued with Orlando Maldonado in a bar near his residence in Dalton. Maldonado and a friend left soon after the argument; Barrera followed them out. Several hours later, at 1:39 a.m., Barrera was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and booked into jail. The clothes he was wearing at the time of his arrest were placed in a bag labeled with his name and placed in a locked closet. Three days later, the police recovered the body of Maldonado propped against a tree less than a block from the bar. Maldonado had not been seen since he left the bar on the evening of July 21. An autopsy revealed that Maldonado's death was caused by a single stab wound to the heart. When his body was found, Maldonado was wearing the clothes he had been wearing when he argued with Barrera at the bar.
The investigating officers obtained Barrera's consent to search his home and car. The investigators found two identical knives, one under Barrera's bed and one in the trunk of his car. The pathologist testified that the knives were consistent in dimensions with the stab wound which killed Maldonado. Without Barrera's consent and without a warrant, investigating officers retrieved Barrera's clothes from the jail lock-up and submitted them to the state crime lab for examination. A forensic serologist from the crime lab conclusively identified blood found on Barrera's clothes as belonging to Maldonado. Barrera agreed to take a polygraph test and stipulated to the admissibility of the results. The examiner testified that Barrera gave deceptive answers to questions about Maldonado's death. An acquaintance of Barrera's testified that, after his arrest and before the police searched his residence, Barrera asked him to remove several items, including a wallet, from his residence and safeguard them for him. The wallet belonged to Maldonado.
1. Barrera contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the results of the tests conducted on the clothing he was wearing at the time of his arrest. Barrera contends that, as a pre-trial detainee, he had a legitimate, albeit diminished, expectation of privacy in his clothing while it was being stored in a jail locker, citing State v. Henderson, 271 Ga. 264 (517 SE2d 61) (1999).
The Court has repeatedly held, however, that, once a person is lawfully arrested and in custody, the effects in his possession may later be seized and searched without a warrant. Batton v. State, 260 Ga. 127, 129-30 (3) (391 SE2d 914) (1990) (victim's blood found on arrestee's clothing); Williams v. State, 258 Ga. 80, 80-81 (2) (365 SE2d 408) (1988) (jewelry later identified as belonging to the murder victim); Eberhart v. State, 257 Ga. 600, 602 (2) (361 SE2d 821) (1987) (blood and fiber evidence found on arrestee's clothing). See United States v. Edwards, 415 U. S. 800 (94 SC 1234, 39 LE2d 771) (1974).
Our analysis is not changed by the fact that Barrera was arrested on one charge, that is, driving under the influence of alcohol, but the police seized his clothes as part of their investigation of an unrelated crime, that is, the homicide of Maldonado. As observed by the Court of Appeals of Texas,
The expectation of one arrested is that one's clothing will be taken away when one assumes jail garb. . . . t is difficult to conceive of an argument why society would distinguish between exp
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